Apparatus for the production of welded wire fabric



J GASKELL 1,925,485 APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF WELDED WIRE FABRIC Sept. 5, 1933.

Original Filed Sept. 9. 1931 Patented Sept. 5, 1933 APPARA'IUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF I WELDED WIRE FABRIC Joseph Gaskell, St. Helens, England, assignor to Pilkington Brothers Limited, Liverpool, England, a limited liability company Original application September 9, 1931, Serial No.

' 561,967, and in Great Britain September 15, 1930. Divided and this application August 9, 1932. Serial No. 628,021

4 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for making electrically-welded wire fabric, of the type in which the wire going to form the fabric, is drawn off a spool intermittently, and has for its object a brake for the wire, which is applied in:

termittently.

The invention is applicable for instance to wire fabric making apparatus of the types described and shown in Patent Nos. 1,661,156 and 1,704,526,

and co-pending patent application, U. S. S. N. 561,967, filed 9th September 1931 from which the present applicationis a division and the improved device is shown in the'said application as applied to the apparatus.

The wire drawn from a spool to be .welded to other wires of the fabric, must be'in tension before the moment of welding, in order that it may be straight, and thetension has heretofore been applied by a brake, on the spool or the wire. It is found that when the machine is operated rapidly, the wire is liable to break, for the reason that it is subjected not only to the retarding force due to the brake itself, but also to the force required to accelerate the spool and Wire. According to the invention the brake for subjecting the wire to tension, is applied only after the acceleration period of the wire and spool.

It has been found that, by means of this device, the wire fabric machine can be operated without breakage of wire, at considerably higher speed.

The brake may be applied either directly to r the wire or to the spool.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a.

vertical section of one of the wire spools, and

Figure 2 is an elevation of the mechanism for varying the friction thereof.

Referring to Figure l, the wire spool 1 is adapted to turn on a pin 2. A spring 3 is placed between the spool 1 and two friction washers 4 and 5, the washer 4, together with the spring 3 being free to turn with the spool l on the pin.2, while the washer 5 is keyed to the pin 2, but is free to slide along it. An arm 6 is adapted to press on the washer5 and, by its pressure, cause friction between the washers 4 and 5.

Referring to Figure 2, 14 is a guide nozzle for the wire and 15 is a finger adapted to grip and draw the wire 16 off the spool 1.

' The finger 15 may be reciprocated as described in the above-mentioned patents and co-pending application or as shown diagrammatically in Figure 2. The finger 15 is attached to a nut 18 engaging a quick pitch screw 19 turning in bearings 20. A pinion 21' on the shaft of screw 19 gears with a toothed sector 22 pivoted to the frame at 23 and connected by rod 24 with a crank pin 25 on one of a pair of-intermittent gears 26, 27, of, which the latter is on the driven shaft 10 which carries the face cam 9 at its other end.

The arm 6 is one arm of a lever of which the other arm 7 carries a roller 8 engaging the face cam 9 making one revolution during the period between two successive operations of drawing wire off the spool. The lever 6, 7,'is pivoted at 6 11 to a bracket 12 fixed to the machine frame, and is guided by guide 13' engaging the arm '7. The arm 6 has adjustable thereon a weight 17 which, when the arm is free to fall produces a 7 pressure on the washer 5 which gives suitable friction opposing the rotation of the spool 1.

When the face-cam 9 is inthe position shown, the arm 6 is lifted and the pressure between the Washers a and 5 is relieved, and the cam 9 is so I fixed on the shaft 10 that this pressure between the washers is relieved before the beginning of the operation of drawing the wire off the spool, and is restored before the operation is completed.

By this means, at the start of the operation of drawing off the wire, that isto say, during the acceleration period of wire and spool, the wire is subjected only to the force due to the acceleration. After the acceleration period, the wire is subjected to the frictional force between the Washers a and 5, and is therefore subjected to the 35 tension necessary to keep it straight.

Having described my invention, I declare that what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. Device for supplying wire intermittently from a spool to wire fabricmachines, comprising a wire spool, means for drawing successive lengths of wire off the spool, a brake adapted to subject the wire to tension and means whereby the brake is rendered inoperative before the start of each drawing off operation and operative before the end thereof. 1

'2. Device for supplying wire intermittently from a spool to wire fabric machines, comprising 1 a wire spool, means for drawing successive lengths of wire 01? the spool, a brake adapted to cause friction in the rotation of the spool, and means whereby the brake is rendered inoperative before the start of each drawing off operation and operative before the end thereof.

3. Device for supplying wire intermittently from a spool to wire fabric machines, comprising a wire spool, means for drawing-successive lengths of wire offthe spool, a brake adapted to cause V friction in th-erotation of the spool, a lever adapted to apply the brake and a cam adapted to move the lever to apply the brake only after the acceleration period of the Wire and spool.

4. Device for supplying Wire intermittently from a spool to Wire fabric machines, comprising a wire spool, means for drawing successive lengths of wire ofi the spool, a brake normally operative under constant load and. adapted to subject the wire to tension and a cam acting antagonistically to said load and adapted to render the brake inoperative before the startof each drawing off operation and to allowit to become operative before the end thereof.

JOSEPH GASKELL. 

